SKAGGS

This is TV advertising at its best.

About 2 years ago, I added the title of this post to my email signature. I don’t recall having seen this before and it just seemed like a logical thing to do given the amount of emails I see printed out at meetings and being read by people on the subway as they head home from work. I’m also happy to see that this phrase, or variations of it, seem to be in the footer of nearly every email I receive these days. It shows that people are taking an interest in saving natural resources and I just hope everyone is heeding there own advice.

Now if we can just figure out a way to get people to stop including those ridiculous, paper and screen real estate wasting confidentiality notices! Do they really make a difference and does anyone really care?

A very interesting (and clever) idea is on how to make a simple change to plastic water bottles which would allow them to easily be filled with a material and turned into an instant building material. The Van Alen Institute in NYC is sponsoring the exhibition UNITED_BOTTLE Participate! which will run from March 28th through April 25, 2008.

Hebel and Stollmann’s project, UNITED_BOTTLE, proposes a new form of plastic bottle designed to function as instant building material. The project’s working hypothesis is that design should think beyond the product and consider the waste for future use. The intersection of local and global distribution and recycling circuits forms the basis of UNITED_BOTTLE – the form of newly designed PET/PP bottles can efficiently fit into standardized shipping boxes, and can be filled with found materials to be used as prefabricated building units for the construction of both temporary and permanent structures.

Water bottles have become quite the thing around SKAGGS lately. Stay tuned and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

I flew back to San Francisco last week and having flown Virgin America, I ended up in the new International Terminal at SFO (I guess it really isn’t so new anymore, but it still feels like it). Having sat on the plane for 7 hours, I was in need of making a trip to the restroom. That is when I first encountered the Dyson Airblade.

The Airblade is the air hand dryer from Dyson, the makers the most amazing vacuum ever. The Airblade, like all of Dyson’s products is the result of 3 years of development to create an entirely new type of hand dryer. The Airblade blows clean, unheated air through an aperture the width of an eyelash at over 400mph (640kmph) to hygienically wipe hands dry in just 12 seconds and it uses up to 80% less energy making it’s better for the environment.

Recently, an inspiring autobiography of James Dyson, called Against All Odds was published documenting the many struggles, failures and success he has encountered over the years. The book is also peppered with insight on how to take an idea and make turn it “into a household name”. It’s a must read for anyone looking for inspiration.

I don’t have much time for TV, but when I do, I typically enjoy Top Chef and programs that educate rather entertain (yeah, I know, Top Chef is entertainment, but it’s also educational - so it counts). I had heard about Sundance Channel’s Big Ideas for a Small Planet series before, but only last night on the way back to NYC did I have some time to watch a couple of episodes.

While the reviews on iTunes vary from good to bad, I found there to be several innovative ideas in the Build and Cities episodes. Specifically, the idea of greener building solving asthma problems with NYC residents and placing “watermills” in the East River.

Hopefully, I’ll find more time this weekend to watch the others. Also have a look at The Sundance Channel website for more information on the series.

An interesting concept from two graduate students at MIT dealing with how to harness the collective power of crowds to produce energy.

“We engage with the city in a very physical and bodily way, every day, even though people don’t really think about it like that,” Graham said. “Our project tries to make that connection visible through this balance between capturing and using energy.”

Last week I was watching Architect William Mcdonough’s TED Talks presentation and towards the middle of it, he throws out this design problem:

“Design something the makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, provides habitat for hundreds of species, accrues solar energy as fuel, makes complex sugars and food, creates microclimates, changes colors with the seasons and self replicates?”

Sounds like a simple enough challenge, doesn’t it? And to think we just cut down trees to “write on them”, as he so eloquently put it.

A brilliant talk buy a brilliant man who’s philosophy of “cradle to cradle” design bridges the needs of ecology and economics.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority (SFMTA) is apparently in the process of redesigning the transit shelters and kiosks would like your feedback on the designs that are being considered.

Also, and something I find very cool, the City is considering a shared bicycle concept. According to SFMTA:

The City may implement a bicycle-sharing program to make bicycles available at key transit stops through a pre-paid option similar to car-sharing business models. Bicycle-sharing stations could be incorporated into a transit shelter design—provided they did not impede access for persons with disabilities and other patrons—or they could be free-standing. The initial phase of the Program may include 10-20 pre-paid bicycle sharing stations throughout the City, at locations to be identified by the SFMTA.

This compliments the City’s Bicycle Program that aims to make San Francisco the North American city with the highest per-capita bicycle use. The program would also have a continually improving bicycle network that is safe and convenient for everyone who chooses to bicycle for transportation and recreation. Go SF!

Thank you Mayor! According to the New York Times today, Mayor Bloomberg unveiled his plan today - PlaNYC - that is aimed at creating a more environmentally sustainable city and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030. This will be accomplished in part, by converting the entire fleet of NYC cabs to hybrids by 2012.

“There‚Äôs an awful lot of taxicabs on the streets of New York City obviously, so it makes a real big difference,” Mayor Bloomberg said this morning on the NBC News program “Today.” “These cars just sit there in traffic sometimes, belching fumes; this does a lot less. It‚Äôs a lot better for all of us.”

In the last two years, NYC has added about 400 hybrid vehicles to the taxi fleet. Under the new proposal, that number would increase to 1,000 by October 2008 and would grow by about 20 percent each year after that until the entire fleet is converted.

Too bad there aren’t more Republicans like Mayor Bloomberg…

The Times (UK) has a great and lengthy article on Anya Hindmarch and the controversy surrounding her “must have” non-plastic bag (side note - there’s humorous knock offs already).

In short, designer, Anya created her re-usable bags to inspire eco-friendly shopping thus resulting in crazy British women (I’m allowed to say crazy, it’s my motherland) storming Sainsbury’s stores across the UK. The bags are released here in the US in June, I wonder if they’ll be stampedes then too.

There’s been a proliferation of “Eco” products and services recently and I’m all for it, however I can’t help but wonder do people really care about being green and the environment, or is it just “in” right now.

Anya herself said:

‚ÄúI‚Äôm not the greenest person around, I drive a diesel car (I have five children) but the point is that ‚Äòwe are what we do‚Äô and if we all do a little thing then we‚Äôll solve the damage, we‚Äôll stop making it worse. And it really doesn‚Äôt take you long to rethink the way you behave.”

So maybe I’m wrong…